Breast Feeding

Breast Feeding

The ability of the breast to produce milk diminishes soon after childbirth without the stimulation of breastfeeding. Immunity factors in breast milk can help the baby to fight off infections. Breast milk contains vitamins, minerals, and enzymes which aid the baby’s digestion. All factors being equal, breast feeding is somewhat superior to formula feeding and may favorably affect the baby’s health. In my opinion the psychological importance of breast feeding has been overestimated. The love a mother shows for her child is not limited to the child sucking on a certain spot on the body and babies are smart enough to know this. As to the metabolic advantages of breast feeding, this may also not be as great as it has been made out to be. At least in the U.S. mothers are not themselves very well nourished thanks to what we have done with our food handling system and on the other hand we now have available liquid vitamin and mineral preparations which can be added to what are already pretty good formulas, not to mention the fact that DHA can also be added for brain development and this is not even available in mother’s milk. No mother should feel guilty or hopeless because for whatever reason she is unable to breast feed her baby.